June 3, 2016

BAND FESTIVAL

The Grade 7 and 8 Concert Bands traveled to Kwantlen University Langley Campus and performed in the Kiwanis Fraser Valley International Band Festival. The Grade 7 students performed music by Tchaikovsky, Adele, and Todd Stalter, with Emily S. featured on the Timpani. The Grade 8 members performed classic Broadway musical selections from Phantom of the Opera, Cats, Joseph, and Les Miserables. Featured soloists included Malachi F, Cari C, Brandon W, and Naomi N.

Both bands earned ‘Bronze’ awards for their hard work – Bravo!!

Mr. Reimer

Exploratories!

You know the end of the year is fast approaching when the students are engaged in “Exploratories” at the Middle Campus! For 4 consecutive Tuesday afternoons we are experiencing something new and outside of the regular required courses of our curriculum. This year students chose from 20 different exciting activities, and have already attended two of the four sessions.

Some of the exciting choices this year are: Survivor – preparing for a camping trip, which will take place next weekend, Beach Volleyball, Calligraphy, Iron Chef, Parkour, Bowling, Canvas Art, Tour de Richmond, Photography, Bouldering, Archery tag, Pinterest, Dance, and Guitar lessons. It has been a joy to observe students make choices and participate in something new that interests them and that they wish to explore further. After all, isn’t that what learning is all about?

Foods 8 Muffin Experiment was a Delicious Success

What a fun and creative Foods 8 lab! Students had an opportunity to create a muffin flavour from a specific theme. We had so much fun tasting these awesome creations made by the class! Students had a week to plan which flavours they wanted to incorporate into their recipe. During the lab day they had the chance to bake and plate them. We had Birthday Party, Campfire, Amusement Park, Canada Day, Quebec Carnival, Food Truck, Americana and Hawaiian Luau! See if you can match the theme with the muffin! Thanks to Mr. Nicanor for the amazing photos and for being a fantastic tasting judge. The Hawaiian Luau created by Cassie and Justine took home the win for most creative.

Ms. Toteda

Grade 6 Science Showcase

The Grade 6 students thoroughly enjoyed sharing their alternative energy solutions to staff and parents at their Alternative Energy Showcase. Students reminded us of our role in taking care of and being responsible with what God has given us. Lemon batteries, salty solutions, Mine Craft dioramas, and biomass experiments were just a few of the many creative solutions to our world’s energy problems that the students showcased that evening.

Grade 6 3D Projects

Grade 6 students put their Area and Volume knowledge to work in their 3D building projects. They started by drafting their building/ statue blueprint on graph paper, paying close attention to length, width and height. Then they made area calculations to find out how many blocks it would take to build their building/ statue. Many found that they had to reduce the scale of their building in order to keep it under 150 blocks. After cutting out cube nets and gluing them together, the Grade 6 students let their creativity flow once more and by decorating them beautifully. In the end, we had everything from 3D penguins, squids and castles to sky scrapers!

Grade 8 Boys Volleyball

The Grade 8 Boys volleyball team had a very successful season this year, going undefeated in Richmond and only losing 3 sets in total! In the Richmond finals, the boys defeated McMath in straight sets to capture the championship and earn a banner for the school. This win earned the team a spot in the semi-finals at the Vancouver and Districts competition, playing against teams from New Westminster and Burnaby.

During the V & D’s, the team lost their first set by only a few points, they came back strong to take the second set; however, in the third set they got down 20-12 at one point. They fought and served their way back to take that game 27-25, a huge victory! They managed to win that match and played in the finals, winning 3 straight sets against Moscrop and earning another banner for the middle school.

Come by the gym later in June once the banners arrive to see the success of this year’s talented volleyball players!

Mrs. Harbridge

Grade 8 Trip to Playland

On May 10, our Grade 8 students enjoyed a chance to experience the power of forces through Playland’s Amusement Park Science program. Playland has designed activities for its attractions that are based on the BC Science curriculum. Students also created a short Forces Film, which described how the rides at Playland use forces to move themselves and impact riders. This year, we once again had the privilege of teaming up with Physics 11 and 12 students from our secondary campus. The older students were able to help guide and support the Grade 8s as they explored important scientific concepts. The weather was perfect, and it was a great day for learning, fun, and community building!

Poetry Café

Students at the Middle Campus had a wonderful opportunity to showcase and perform their poetry in a fun and encouraging setting. As many of the grade sevens and eights have just completed a poetry unit, this was a wonderful opportunity for them to share their work with their peers. What made the event extra special is that two grade seven students spearheaded it: Eli P. and Nailah C. Both students expressed their love for poetry and desire to see their peers gather together over a lunch block. It turned out to be a great experience and something we will look forward to doing next year!

Ms. Toteda

Remembrance Day Literary and Art Awards Ceremony

We had the pleasure on May 24th of having youth liaisons for the Richmond Royal Canadian Legion present for an extra special ceremony. Tony Spierings was beaming as he acknowledged all the participants in the 2016 Remembrance Day Literary and Art contest. Richmond Christian School represented very well in this yearly popular contest, as part of our term one creative writing group.

We had three local winners, two for poetry (Marjorie C. and Kaela P.) and one art winner (Rachel Z.). Furthermore, not only did Kaela P. win zone, but also she went on to win districts and then province wide! This means that out of 7000 entries, Kaela’s poem was voted the top poem in the province for the junior division. She received not only a great monetary prize, but also a congratulatory letter from the premier of BC, Christy Clarke! We are so proud of all our creative writers and artists their efforts. What a wonderful way to remember and show respect to those who paid such a great price for the freedoms we enjoy today in Canada.

Ms. Toteda

Grade 8 Science Showcase

On the evening of June 2, we had the privilege of hosting our Grade 8 parent community at our Science Showcase! Students exhibited their learning in the topics of Optics and Fluids and Dynamics. Parents had the chance to learn how their children were able to fix the vision of the extraterrestrial Jenches in the Optics for Aliens project, and how they designed more effective pop bottle rockets in the Star Wars Rocket Mission project. All of this learning was centered around answering the Showcase’s Big Question: “Why is it important to think critically and scientifically to solve problems in God’s world?” At the end of the evening we went outside for a final rocket launch involving the champion rockets from each homeroom class. It was a great night to celebrate our explorations of God’s world and to give glory to the Creator who inspires Christian scientists!

TRACK!

We had a terrific track meet on May 26 at Minoru this year, with the weather staying sunny and not too warm. Several athletes had excellent results and our relay teams earned loads of first and second place finishes. Results will be coming in this week with a ribbon ceremony taking place next week. Looking forward to it!

Our Grade 8 track team had several personal bests this year, in all areas of running, jumping and throwing. Most of our athletes earned spots in the Richmond finals and overall, it was a very successful season. Although many students qualified, we did not attend Zones this year, but will look into that possibility in the future. Thank you to Mr. Penner and Mrs. Lim for their excellent coaching.

This past Monday, the members of the Middle Campus track team were able to compete in the annual Christian School’s track meet in Abbotsford. The day was marked by sunshine and stiff competition, but our students represented our school proudly. A good number of students won their events, and even achieved their personal bests! The day wasn’t without it’s issues as a number of students took spills right at the finish line, but all in all, the day was enjoyable. Well done Eagles!

Mrs. Harbridge

Grade 8 Group Canvas

Grade 8 art students have left their mark on the walls of the library, literally. Ms. Julia Toteda had a vision to depict literature themes. Along with the help of grade 8 art teachers, Ms. Falconer and Mrs. Chan, this vision was passed onto the Art 8 students. As a project reflecting the goals of the new BC curriculum, students were placed in groups with the task of depicting two themes in an abstract way on their canvases. Students planned imagery, texture, and checked in with other groups to coordinate their colour schemes. After six weeks of planning and painting, they presented their impressive works of art to Ms. Toteda and the library…wow!